A federal Republican judge in Pennsylvania declared President Obama’s executive actions on immigration unconstitutional but did not actually block the orders, which is the judicial equivalent of shouting at the administration to get off his lawn.

Oklahoma jails more women than anywhere else in the country. It turns out that many of them are victims of intimate partner violence who have been incarcerated thanks to the state’s “enabling child abuse” law that punishes women for not intervening to stop partners from abusing their kids.

Meanwhile, Tennessee is arresting pregnant people at a terrifying pace under a new law that lets prosecutors charge them for endangering their fetus.

Not to be outdone, Wisconsin just detained and jailed another woman under its “personhood”-like law. Thankfully, lawyers from National Advocates for Pregnant Women are challenging that law’s constitutionality.

Unsurprisingly, the U.S. criminal justice system is a disaster for prisoners with intellectual disabilities.

It’s not just in Texas, either. Sofia Resnick chronicles the link between false testimony and anti-abortion restrictions in states across the country here.

To close, here’s a preview of the nightmarish legislative session ahead in the states: A Missouri lawmaker has pre-filed a bill that requires a pregnant person to obtain the consent of the “father” before getting an abortion. The law contains an exception for victims of “legitimate rape,” which is apparently defined as the 3 percent of cases nationwide that are reported and result in a conviction.

An Ohio legislative committee on Thursday passed a bill that would ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected. HB 248 was approved by the the House Health and Aging Committee with an 11-6 vote, and will now move to the house floor.

So-called heartbeat bans, which restrict abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, are some of the most extreme anti-abortion policies in the country. A fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women even know they’re pregnant and several months before a fetus is considered viable—the cut-off set by Roe v. Wade in protecting access to abortion. So heartbeat bans essentially make the vast majority of abortions illegal.

Legal precedent for a similar ban shows that Ohio’s far-reaching abortion regulation—pushed by the most radical elements of the state’s GOP—likely won’t pass constitutional muster.

HB 248, which represents at least the second time Ohio has tried to pass a heartbeat ban, was pushed hastily to a vote in the house committee. The bill was added at the very last minute to the committee’s Thursday calendar and was scheduled for a quick vote. Republican state leaders also altered the committee members to make the committee more friendly to the extremist bill, replacing moderate Republicans expected to vote against HB 248 with those in favor of the legislation.

Ohio in 2011 became the first state to try and pass a fetal heartbeat ban when it introduced HB 125, but the bills have since gained popularity in state legislatures. Bills like HB 125 have been introduced in Michigan, Alabama, Kentucky, and Mississippi.

Even some anti-choice activists oppose heartbeat bans, which they consider extreme versions of the more popular 20-week abortion bans. The only state to successfully enact such a ban is North Dakota, but a federal judge in April permanently struck down the law, calling it “invalid and unconstitutional.”

The American Civil Liberties Union on Monday asked an Ohio judge to strike down several provisions in a law that has restricted access to abortion and closed clinics in the state.

The Ohio legislature in June 2013 passed a budget bill with several anti-choice riders tacked on. That fall, the ACLU, on behalf of the abortion provider Preterm-Cleveland, sued the state, arguing that the budget bill unlawfully includes the abortion restrictions.

At issue in the lawsuit is not whether the restrictions themselves are legal, but if their inclusion in the budget bill violates state law. The case rests on an Ohio law called the One-Subject Rule, which requires all legislation to address only one subject.

The suit argues that because the abortion amendments are unrelated to budget appropriations, they violate the One-Subject Rule and should be stricken from the law.

In the document filed this week, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is arguing that a lengthy court process is unnecessary because the facts of the case are straightforward. Instead, according to the ACLU, the Common Pleas judge should issue a summary ruling, removing the abortion restrictions from the budget bill and voiding them entirely.

The budget bill currently includes three anti-choice provisions, one of which is a ban on public hospitals from making transfer agreements with surgical abortion facilities.

As RH Reality Check has reported before, the transfer agreement requirement and the addition of public hospital qualification have already threatened abortion access in the state. The Ohio Department of Health this year revoked the Lebanon Road Surgery Center’s operating license after finding it did not have a transfer agreement with a local public hospital.

Lebanon Road stopped providing surgical abortions last month.

And in July, Capital Care Network, a Toledo abortion provider, had its license revoked after it was unable to find a local public hospital that would sign a written transfer agreement. The clinic had a previous agreement with the University of Michigan Health System, which is less than an hour away by car, but was forced to make an agreement with a more local hospital.

The second amendment to the budget bill requires that abortion providers determine at least 24 hours in advance of the procedure whether there is a fetal heartbeat, and if there is, the provider is required to talk to the patient about the heartbeat.

The provision also creates criminal penalties for providers who fail to comply.

As the lawsuit filed this week points out, the heartbeat budget provision is very similar to an earlier fetal heartbeat bill that failed to pass the legislature. The heartbeat provision was added only two days before the bill passed, giving no opportunity for public testimony or debate.

The third amendment creates a state-level “parenting and pregnancy” program that moves money into organizations that are banned from discussing abortion care.

UPDATE, August 15, 9:30 a.m.: The Associated Press reports that Ohio’s new heartbeat bill will be introduced at a Thursday afternoon press conference that will feature Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, the stars of TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting.

Members of the anti-choice group Faith2Action have spent years trying and failing to get the Ohio legislature to pass a ban on abortions at the point when an embryonic heartbeat can be detected. Now it is being reported that the legislature may soon revisit the possibility of a heartbeat ban in the state.

The ban, which could make abortion illegal as early as six weeks from the pregnant person’s last menstrual period, which is before many people become aware they are pregnant, is expected to be introduced around the same time that Rep. Hagan will appear at a fundraising event for Faith2Action.

Within the last year, a version of a heartbeat ban has passed in both North Dakota, which aims to ban abortions as soon as a heartbeat can be detected, and Arkansas, which restricts abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy. Federal judges, in two separate cases, seeking to determine the constitutionality of the restrictions, are reviewing both laws. (In North Dakota, U.S. District Judge Daniel L. Hovland has blocked the abortion ban from taking effect while a lawsuit challenges its constitutionality.)

Ohio women received a short reprieve at the end of the 2012 legislative session, as a final attempt to pass the “Heartbeat” ban, a bill that would outlaw a large share of early abortions, was blocked by the outgoing Speaker Tom Niehaus.

This year, things are already looking much different for the bill. Despite the fact that new members of the body have yet to be sworn in, the new Speaker has already proclaimed he is ready to move on the bill. According to Innovation Ohio, House Speaker Bill Batchelder said that “there is no question” that the bill will be reintroduced at some point during the 2013 session.

Batchelder hasn’t been one to mince words about his enthusiasm for the proposed restriction, which he can’t wait to see become immediately enjoined as it spurs a legal battle. Shortly after the proposal passed the House initially back in 2011, Batchelder told Reuters that “We’re writing bills for courts.” Neither his priorities nor his zeal for a court fight appear to have been daunted by the protracted battle within the state’s own anti-choice factions or the senate’s refusal to move forward on the bill.

I’ve developed a sort of love/hate relationship with Ohio’s Heartbeat Ban, a bill that I have been tracking almost since the moment of conception (get it? I can make those jokes, too!). Thanks to the bill I have had a chance to get to know activists and providers with whom I likely never would have come into contact, interviewing them for articles here and on other sites, as well as for an upcoming book, where the saga of the bill’s constant maneuvering will be the second chapter. I’ve in some ways enjoyed the crazy antics of Janet Porter and her followers, from balloons to fetus “testimony” to teddy bears and preschoolers. And above all, I’ve enjoyed Speaker Tom Niehaus’s constant blocking of her every move in the senate.

But enough already. Just end it. Please.

Yes, Janet Porter and Faith2Action decided to take one more swing at getting the bill before the senate for a vote, even with Niehaus’s emphatic statement that he was not going to let that occur. Porter announced a plan to try and circumvent the Speaker altogether by gathering enough Republican signatures on a discharge petition in order to bounce it out of the senate Health committee and up for a full vote.

Surely, at this point she should have realized that this wasn’t just politics anymore—it had gotten personal. To ensure the bill remained sidelined for the rest of the lame duck session, Niehaus took the bill’s two biggest supporters out of the Senate Rules and References committee. Then, once that committee was mostly Heartbeat Ban supporter-free, he held a vote to have the bill moved from the Health committee to the Rules committee, where it will wither away until the session concludes, since a discharge petition cannot be used on a bill that has spent less than 30 days in committee.

“I made a decision this week to end Senate consideration of House Bill 125. Unfortunately, certain proponents of the bill continue to bully members of my caucus into bypassing the committee process and bringing it directly to the Senate floor for a vote. This move would effectively shut down all public input and hearing on a bill that has been changed multiple times without a single hearing on its newly proposed content,” Niehaus said in a statement released this morning, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Niehaus also made sure to send a message to the anti-choice activists that their strong-arming tactics throughout the course of the bill’s journey were not appreciated. He told the Associated Press:

“It’s clear that this bill saw some of the most intense lobbying efforts in recent memory — and that’s fine: I’m all for people advocating for their position, and being passionate about their position,” he said. “But threatening, in my opinion, goes over the line. And we saw tactics that I did not appreciate, and my members did not appreciate. And for a small faction of the pro-life community to target the most pro-life group of senators in recent memory was to me outrageous.”

So, finished. Finally. There are no more last minute maneuvers that can be performed to get the bill up for a vote this year. Of course next year, we can probably expect it to be one of the first bill proposed. But on the bright side for me, my book will already be at the printer.

This article was amended at 9:17 pm Eastern on Tuesday, November 27th to correct several typos.

In horror movies, it usually takes multiple tries to officially take out the evil monster. So it goes in Ohio, it seems, as a bill to ban abortions at the point of detection of an embryonic or fetal heartbeat is finally and definitely shelved for 2012.

Current Speaker of the Senate Tom Niehaus announced today that two bills which had previously caused an uproar during the lame duck legislative session would not make it to the floor for a vote. The heartbeat ban, on which it was previously rumored a compromise had been reached among anti-choice factions, was one of the two bills on which a vote would not be held. Some anti-choice groups were concerned it could inadvertently reaffirm the ruling in Roe v. Wade,

The other bill, which would essentially defund Planned Parenthood in the state by reprioritizing funding, will also be taken off the table for now. Niehaus acknowledged the importance of the work that Planned Parenthood, a rarity among the ranks of the GOP: “I think you have to look at the entirety of the work that is done by Planned Parenthood, and I believe that they offer much needed services that are not available other places. So I chose not to take up the bill in lame duck.”

According to the Columbus Dispatch, Niehaus told his caucus that neither bill would get a vote, citing constitutional concerns, and asked that his fellow legislators “respect his decision as leader of the caucus.”

For opponents of the measures, the news is met with relief, but also wariness. Kellie Copeland, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, predicts that this isn’t the end of either proposal, but simply a time-out before they both come back in 2013. “I don’t think this is a threat defeated, it’s a threat delayed,” Copeland told RH Reality Check. “When these attacks come back in January — and they will — they are going to be passed and end up on Governor Kasich’s desk. We call on Governor Kasich to tell the women and men of Ohio where he stands and ask him to veto any threats to women’s healthcare.”

Copeland has reason to be concerned. Although Niehaus appears to have developed a personal grudge against Porter and her heartbeat bill, a grudge that escalated into a war of open letters during the height of lobbying at the capital, the likely new senate leader Keith Faber has no such grudge and has already declared himself a supporter of the bill.

Like all good horror movies, it looks like we’ll have to wait to see what happens in the sequel.

There was a festive, victorious air as news shows and pundits declared Ohio a win for President Barack Obama, putting him over the top in the electoral college and securing his reelection. Democrats were nearly as overjoyed when Senator Sherrod Brown won what had become a neck-and-neck battle with Republican Josh Mandel, beating the GOP rising star by five percentage points.

Sadly, that surge of blue didn’t trickle down when it came to Ohio’s state legislature. What was already a predominately anti-choice House and Senate appears to have become even more hostile to women’s reproductive rights. The only judge on the state Supreme Court who didn’t oppose abortion was ousted from office, and the fate of two races that are still too close to call could mean the difference between a house block so powerful it could override all vetos and put anti-choice legislation straight on the ballot or one that still has to get hundreds of thousands of citizen signatures for approval first.

Although the election proved positive for women’s rights at the federal level, the opposite is true in many states. Conservative groups, frustrated by their inability to win the White House, their failure to take over the Senate, and their loss of gains made in many states during the Tea Party wave election in 2010 have decided that their fatal flaw in 2012 was not emphasizing anti-choice issues enough.

According to NPR, conservative groups have vowed to take their 2012 losses as a sign to fight harder, and will increase their efforts at the state level pass more rules and regulations over abortion, birth control, and health care. At a press conference attended by NPR’s Kathy Lohr, Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser said:

“If you truly believe that you are living in a great human civil rights movement, you don’t give up. That is why we grow as a movement. So this is the beginning of a new cycle.”

Anti-choice activists and politicians will be looking to flex their muscles and use their power in the limited areas where they still have majorities. For a state like Ohio, that means the over-the-top bills from the last few years may just be the beginning. Ohio Right to Life will continue to push onerous anti-choice bills in through the statehouse, with Ohio Right to Life president Mike Gonidakis saying they “refuse to relent simply because of the presidential outcome,” according to Gongwer Ohio News Service.

Ohio Right to Life looks forward to advancing our robust pro-life agenda we have crafted for 2013. As we look to grow and expand, we commit to our statewide membership that we will be on the front lines and serve as a voice for the voiceless.

That “robust” agenda includes trying yet again to de-fund Planned Parenthood clinics in the state, as well as another potential push to get Janet Porter’s “heartbeat ban” back on the docket. The radical attempt to ban abortion from the point at which a heartbeat could be detected—as early as 28 days post conception—stalled in the senate when Senate president Tom Neihaus refused to let it out of committee for a vote. However, Neihaus will not be returning in 2013, and Republican Keith Faber will be taking over as president. Faber has previously said that he would vote for the bill should it make it to the floor for a vote. Whether he would be willing to let it out of committee is less clear.

There may not be long to wait to find out. A lame duck session of the legislature begins on Wednesday, November 14th, and could stretch all the way until the end of the year if lawmakers were really so inclined. A Planned Parenthood bill is expected to be introduced for sure, and the heartbeat ban may very well be as well. News of a compromise between anti-choice groups Ohio Right to Life and Faith2Action, Porter’s more extreme wing is hitting the news stands. Although the compromise is under wraps, the bill will likely either be reintroduced as simply an informed consent mandatory ultrasound bill with a patient being required to listen to the heart beat, or as it was previously, with reliance on the severability of the bill as written, which would let the ban be cut off from the rest of the pre-abortion requirements if found unconstitutional.

It all depends on exactly how bold Ohio’s anti-choice movement decides to go.

“We’re still figuring out where the House might fall out with its new members,” Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio told RH Reality Check regarding the potential resurgence of the “heartbeat ban.” “Part of it is not just the numbers. Some of it is the political damage that they’ve done to their own cause. There’s bad blood, particularly on the senate side, with some of them going after senators, calling them RINOs [Republicans In Name Only].”

Faber, according to Copeland, is as “anti-choice as they come,” pointing to previous sponsorship of bills such as allowing pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control and emergency contraception. His leadership in the senate combined with a near veto-proof majority could make an already reproductive rights hostile state a hotbed for anti-choice legislation.

So is Ohio doomed? Not necessarily. Republican Governor John Kasich is a major supporter of the state’s anti-choice organizations, and has begun placing anti-choicers into key state health care positions, such as Gonidakis’s recent appointment to the state medical board. However, he also is up for reelection in 2014 and will need to tread cautiously when it comes to reproductive health bills. If the results of the 2012 election taught politicians one lesson, it was that when it comes to trying to win a race that encompasses a full state—not just a tightly-controlled district with favorable demographics—denying a woman access to abortion and birth control is not a winning platform.

For a governor who saw the majority of voters across the state reject a party platform that embraced limiting a woman’s right to choose, signing on to the state GOP’s anti-women agenda could tank his chances for reelection. Will Kasich be willing to torpedo his own political career to support anti-choice legislation? The answer to that question could have the women of Ohio’s lives hanging in the balance.

Apparently not finding the children and teddy bears to be effective enough to sway the Ohio state legislature into a vote on the state’s proposed, controversial bill that would ban abortion as early as 4 weeks post conception, a new group has shown up to lobby.

About two dozen Ohio pastors are urging the state Senate to vote on a bill that would impose the nation’s strictest abortion limit.

Backers of the bill invited pastors of churches from Cleveland to Cincinnati to speak at the Statehouse on Wednesday as part of their latest push to get the legislation through the Republican-led Senate. The pastors also planned to visit the 33 senators. They say they’re praying for the bill to pass.

First, they come for your heartstrings, next, they come for your souls.

Last week, supporters of the Ohio Heartbeat ban – which could be the most onerous ban on abortion in the country – lobbied their state senate with both little kids and bears that play beating heart noises.

According to The Columbus Dispatch, senators want to return the bears because they are estimated to cost around $30 to $35, which the legislators would have to legally report as gifts on financial-disclosure forms.

“I’m not sure what I would do with it. I don’t have a grandchild that would be able to use it,” said Mike Rowe, spokesman for the Senate’s Democrats, to the newspaper.

Ironically, the supporters don’t want the bears back, and said to give them to a crisis pregnancy center instead. Which sort of symbolizes the whole anti-choice movement right there.